We always have some sort of "operation" going on here!

When we got back from Austin we started "Operation Crib" in the Wood household. The first night was a bust, as Carter screamed his way to victory in the pack in play in our room by 11 pm. The next day I spent hours reading books and  on the internet reading about baby sleep patterns and ways to get them in their cribs. However, the absolute BEST advice I got was from a good friend and very wise mother (get ready for lots of advice asking, Joce!) at playgroup. She highly recommended a bedtime routine--for their family they do "bath, bottle, bed" and no matter how crazy the kids are at bathtime, they realize the routine and it's almost bedtime, settle down, and go to bed. Allright, Carter loves his bath, so let's give it a shot. People...it WORKED. And you better believe that for now 8 nights in a row he has had a bath and may have just a bit of a rash (we're now just giving him a water bath every 2 nights) ,but by golly he's happy and we're happy and he's IN HIS CRIB! I would venture to say operation crib is a success! We give him a bath, lotion him up, put on his swaddler, nurse him (or give him bottle...more on this below), say bedtime prayers, turn on the mobile, turn on the humidifer, and put him in bed (pretty extensive routine, but it's working!). Does he go down without fussing at all? Of course not, we'll (hopefully!) get there. We usually have to go up and pat him 1-2 times, but that is NOTHING compared to the screaming agony of being in the crib at night just 2 weeks ago. Whew. Operation crib was a success.
Sidenote: Last week I had a work shower over here and someone asked if we had created new "rules" with Carter as Caleb and I thrive off routine and "rules" (have 10 seconds to make the bed, new towel days, etc)...the answer, of course! We don't even realize we do it but oh we do. The other night he was crying in bed and we were watching him on the video monitor. I was going to go pat him and Caleb said to wait 2 minutes, it had only been a minute and 37 seconds...basically, this is a "rule" Caleb has that I have now adopted:  he has to cry for 2 minutes to be patted. If he stops and settles down, the 2 minutes starts over again. Ha. Believe it or not, he fell asleep in those 23 seconds :). Haha, very quirky things we do around here but they work for us....

Allright, so I was thinking operation crib was a success, I start work next week, we're golden. Ha. Carter has a different plan. Without going into details, I had a case of mastitis over the weekend and the doctor told me  to nurse him exclusively (don't pump, don't give him bottle) to help with the infection. So, Carter did not get a bottle from Saturday afternoon to this morning. I'm feeling much better (love the miracle of antibiotics!) so last night Caleb took the 2nd feed (another rule--I take first feed of the night, he takes 2nd) which ended up being around 7 am. Carter wanted nothing to do with the bottle. After screaming, took about 2 ounces and was done. Whatever--maybe he wasn't that hungry. I get up at 7:30 and pump and then he starts acting hungry about 8:30. I decide to give him a bottle since I just pumped and guess what---he FREAKED OUT. Yes, my child of all children started refusing the bottle. So, we start "Operation Bottle" in the Wood household and you better believe I'm throwing lots o feeding therapy his way. So far he's taken 2 bottles but he does not go after them or take to them in the typical Carter fashion (whatever temp, immediately down the thing). We're now doing every other feed nurse with the bottle at the other feedings and hopefully he will re-figure out he LOVES the bottle... pronto. I told him we have 6 days to work on this. If it means staying home for the next 6 days and doing feeding therapy 6x/day, we'll do it. We will get there. I'm pretty sure he lost his suck reflex (typically integrates around 3 months) so he just needs to figure it all out again....but that boy, definitely our child with his routines already! Although it is annoying he won't take to the bottle like the champ I know he is (power of positive thinking!), I can't complain much about HAVING to stay home and snuggle and play with the little guy all day with a little "therapy" thrown in every 3 hours :).

Hope to update with a success post soon! :)

Snow Pics and Trip to Austin

The past 2 weeks have been oh so fun around here. The first week of February Dallas had lots of ice and snow--so much so that the schools shut down 4 days straight. Although our life wasn't too different, as Carter and I both enjoy hanging out at home, we did get a little stir crazy being stuck inside for 4 days. Caleb went to work the first 3 days but took off on Friday as the roads were too dangerous. Uncle Stephen attempted to go into work, but that didn't work....so, we had fun family time for the snow day, see pics below.

The following week Caleb went on a guys ski trip so I took Carter to Austin and we had lots of fun times with family and friends. Unfortunately, I didn't get my camera out until the last couple of days, so we have no pics of our day trip to San Antonio to see the Kemp's or Amanda and her girls :(. Also, I would love to post pics of Caleb skiing in here, but seeing that I'm the photographer of the family he came back with ZERO photos of his trip. However, he had a great time and although he has never been so interested in my life while away (Carter brings a whole new element!) and missed Carter like crazy, he was not roughing it and enjoyed 3 days of snowboarding, hearty dinners, and "guy time".

Onto the pics...



Stephen's car got stuck in our alley on the attempt to go into work which resulted in Caleb and Stephen outside with shovels for over an hour trying to get it back in the driveway!



Carter was not liking the snow, but to give the kid a little credit he did start screaming inside about 20 seconds before we made it outside for this pic as it was time for him to eat....and we all know that when he wants his food, he wants it NOW and was not about looking cute in a ridiculous Bevo outfit in 12 degree weather!

We attempted the next day and he was pretty "whatever" about taking the pic. Our family snow pic :)

Looking like such a big boy!

Our first night in Austin. It was Grandpa's birthday so Mommy made a very homemade-looking "Happy Birthday Grandpa" onesie for Carter to wear. Grandpa was happy to see him, but this night Carter was still recovering from shots and the drive and was pretty fussy so we didn't get a great pic of the shirt.

We went to visit the Gillespey familiy on Friday and they ADORE Carter. This is the family I used to babysit for in Austin--the girl holding Carter is now 12, she was 3 months old when I first started babysitting. The girl to her left and the boy in the back were both newborns--I saw both of them when they were born at the hospital. CRAZY how fast they've grown up! We love this family and are so excited to reverse the roles :). They were my parenting practice for over 7 years!

Love my time with Nana. This is his swaddler that is a must for naptime. We learned on the trip if I put him in this and rock him in his carseat, he would typically fall asleep within 5 minutes!

With Aunt Beth...looks like he's fighting the swaddle here!

Playing with Papa

Cousin Sofia entertaining Carter with her "friends". She was so sweet to him!

Chillin' with GrandmaJo

With the great grandparents! Love my  Mamie and Grandaddy!

Aunt Connie feeding Kennedy Kate with the classic "Carter napping" in the back.

My first time to meet Kennedy Kate! She's 2 1/2 weeks, I'm 2 1/2 months. I don't really know what to think here.

Love this pic of Grandaddy with the 2 babies!

With the Mommies

I love this picture. Anytime someone is missing, we hold up a paper plate in their spot---hence, this is where Caleb should be!

Hanging with my Aunt Connie

Playing with Aunt Ali!



Talking with Mamie

And that's a wrap up! I'm soaking in these last weeks as a "full time" stay at home Mom. I go back to work 2 days/week starting March 1st. A much needed weekend of family time is on the books for this weekend with a little Mommy/Daddy running+breakfast date thrown in while Carter plays with Max. The weather is gorgeous and we're looking forward to a little lake running---I haven't been out there since my pregnancy days!

2 month stats

We just got back from a very fun trip to Austin which needs a post all in itself--hopefully later this week. However, wanted to post his 2 month old check-up stats even if they are a week late :).

Weight: 12 lbs, 15 ounces (75%)
Length: 24 1/4 inches (90%)
Head Circumfrence: 15 1/2 (30%)

No worries, the pediatrician says that head size should not correlate to weight/height and has no correlation with intellect. Whew. He got his shots and poor little guy did NOT handle them well. We heard a whole new cry, which in hindsight I guess is good b/c it's his "I'm in pain" cry, but poor little guy was a FUSSPOT all day long. We gave him tylenol, but it really took him a good 2-3 days to get back to his normal little Carter self. However, now we're back at home and working on getting back on the good sleeping schedule because I'm not sure if it was Austin or what but this waking up every 2-3 hours again is NOT cool. I start back to work 2 weeks from today, so it is what we call "operation crib" and "operation sleep" time at our house these next 2 weeks! He's taking some good naps for me in his crib today, so here's hoping night #2 is better than last night! He is being so sweet and smiley right now....it's weird how easy I forget last night :).

Hopefully a post with lots of pic of our trip coming up!

2 months

Our little man is 2 months old today. We have our official appointment at the pedi next Monday, so will have to update his stats next week. Here is what our typical day looks like at 2 months:


-wake up and playtime with Daddy between 5-6 am--playtime with Daddy includes morning bottle (so Mommy can sleep!), stretches, watching Sports Center in Daddy's lap, batting at the animals on the playmat, and watching Daddy make silly faces
-Daddy usually dresses Carter and himself and Mommy rolls out of  bed around 7:30 and makes breakfast/coffee
-sometimes Carter will go back to bed for his morning nap or go in the swing while Mommy and Daddy have breakfast. . He LOVES the swing--we will forever be grateful for Amanda bringing the gem to us, it has changed our life! There are birds that circle around at the top and he LOVES to look at the birds. This morning we looked over and he had the biggest grin on his face just looking at the  birds. Caleb says he either loves them or is scared to death they're going to attack them he has to stare them down--I'm sure he loves them ;)
-Daddy goes to work around 7:45-8 and then it's Carter and Mommy time. Even though we're not doing BabyWise, on his own he does the "eat, play, sleep" routine:

EAT: As seen in the pics, Carter is a good little eater. He usually gets a 3.5 ounce bottle from Daddy in the mornings and nurses during the day when we're at home. He is not at all picky--we can give him the bottle freezing cold out of the fridge and the boy will down it in ~10 minutes. He loves his food. You take food away for a sec to do something and he will let you know that is unacceptable by screaming until you give him his food back. I can't wait to see what he does with solids....but we'll wait a few more months for that :).

PLAY: He's getting much more interactive just this week. I will sing and do pat-a-cake with him and he will just grin the whole time. He discovered looking at himself in the mirror and literally did not take his eyes off of himself for 20 minutes, just smiling and talking. He has started cooing--trying to figure out his little voice and how to make it work, and it makes this speech therapist happy :). He sits in the bumbo for 5-10 minutes at a time, loves laying on his back on the playmat and batting the toys, but does NOT like tummy time. I push through it, but oh, he does not like it. We also try to have daily outings--we have scheduled Monday playgroup, Wednesday mall time with Max (so the Mommies can talk and walk!), and Friday grocery shopping. Tuesday and Thursday we will typically run errands or have some other outing. When it's pretty we go for neighborhood walks---in probably another month I'll feel comfortable jogging with him in the jogger, they say to wait until head control is "fully established, typically around 3 months", so I head to the gym sans Carter to get my running fix.

SLEEP: I would say 5 out of 7 nights he gives us a good 6 hour stretch during the night, so we're not complaining. I usually get up with him around 2-3 and then Caleb gets up with him around 5-6.  He usually goes down for a good 2 hour morning nap and 2-3 hour afternoon nap with some 30-40 min naps in between. He's sleeping in his crib for naps but still will not sleep in his crib at night for some reason, but we're working on that. He continues to need to be swaddled or he will wake himself up. I am LOVING the video monitor and it's fun to watch him look around in his crib, kick those little feet in his swaddle, and put himself to sleep. I would say he typically goes down very easily--will fuss less than 5 mins before falling asleep during the day. He's typically awake for 1-2 hour periods then goes back down for a nap. He does have periods of crying/fussing in his sleep so it's nice to watch the monitor and see that he's actually sleeping---I never like to wake a sleeping baby :)

Daddy comes home between 6 and 7 and unfortunately, this is Carter's fussy time. However, the swing has been our saving grace and we're actually able to sit down and eat dinner together most nights (thanks to our lovely friends who bring us meals! you're wonderful and we're now in the routine of eating dinner--not so sure what's going to happen now that they're ending!) vs switching off with Carter while the other one eats. We are still attempting the 5 "S's" to calm him and they're working pretty well. Sidenote: We were at a party the other night with Carter and he was a fusspot, so Caleb swaddled him, put him on his side, and was "shhh"-ing in his ear--he looked up and there were no less than 8 people staring at him and laughing. It was hilarious to observe, but at the same time it was working---Caleb got him to sleep and we were able to partake in games for the next 2 hours :).Carter typically goes to bed around 9:30-10, and the day starts again!

I'm sure this was very boring for most of you to read, but I'm not writing this stuff down anywhere else, so I'm counting on cyberspace to  keep this record so when we have #2 down the road and I can't remember at all what Carter was doing...voila, look at 2 month old post, and here we have it.

Caleb is going skiing next week on a guys trip, so Carter and I are going to load up the car and head to Austin to visit family and friends! 2 month old stats to come, but will leave you with pics:

What Carter does while Mommy and Daddy eat Einstein's before church

Sweet boy

This is what Carter did during his very first birthday party...I'm sure next year will be crazy at the bounce house!

We were sooo happy Amanda and her girls came to visit! We had a blast!

Playing play doh with Diana

Doesn't she look like she needs another one?! Love those girls! Carter will have so much fun with them once he gets a little older :)

Big boy playing in the bumbo

This is our friend Max, we've hung out with him a lot lately! He's 7 weeks older than Carter. This night he came over to play so his parents could go on a date....and this week Carter is going to play so Mommy and Daddy can have date night!

He looks old in this picture--is it this outfit?!

Here are some of his 2 month pictures I took this morning, again....I LOVE his little personality shining through in these pics, so there are plenty of them:

a little wobbly and I love it :)

haha :)

still our little kung fu Carter

allright Mom, I'm done with this--please dress me because it's 9 degrees outside right now!